This Show Was Garbage. No, We’re Not Mean. It Literally Was.

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Heron Preston took discarded Sanitation Department uniforms and reworked them as new designs.CreditDrew Anthony Smith for The New York Times

By Valeriya Safronova

Sept. 8, 2016

One person’s used uniform is another person’s fashion find. Or so was the thinking of Heron Preston, a founding member of the art/disc jockey/design collective Been Trill and designer, who presented a collection in collaboration with the Department of Sanitation New York on Wednesday evening. (The venue was in and around the Spring Street Salt Shed, an award-winning structure that houses 5,000 tons of salt for city winters.)

“I just noticed service workers weren’t as celebrated as the F.D.N.Y. or the N.Y.P.D.,” said Mr. Preston, who has also worked with Nike as an envoy to the fashion and nightlife world. “Without them, we wouldn’t be able to live in this amazing city. So it’s about shining a light on them and celebrating the work that they do.”

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The designer Heron Preston.CreditDrew Anthony Smith for The New York Times

To create the collection, Mr. Preston pulled uniform pieces donated by sanitation workers out of storage, overdyed them and reworked them in different ways: Long-sleeved shirts in pistachio, deep green and bright orange had screen-printed D.S.N.Y. logos on the front; a white hooded sweatshirt was covered in patches of flags from countries both current and defunct (like the U.S.S.R.); and short-sleeved and sleeveless shirts featured prints of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles logo and the cover of N.W.A.’s music album “Straight Outta Compton.” Hats came with embroidered logos, and oversized bags were made of neon safety vests.

The rapper ASAP Ferg, a friend of Mr. Preston’s who attended the event, applauded the designer’s attempt to elevate the quotidian. “We see it every day, so we can all relate to it,” he said, referring to service workers’ uniforms. “But he actually was the mind that was like, ‘Man, I’m going to do a collection based on what I’ve seen all my life.’ Some people be scared to express themselves as far as really wanting to wear it, but he took the chance.”

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From the Preston collection.CreditDrew Anthony Smith for The New York Times

Mr. Preston took on the project with the goal of helping raise awareness for the 0x30 campaign, a de Blasio administration initiative, which aims to reduce the waste New York City sends to landfills to zero by 2030. Half of the proceeds raised at the event, a see-now/buy-now affair where prices ranged from $60 for T-shirts to $1,250 for raincoats, will go to the Foundation for New York’s Strongest.

In the spirit of raising awareness, members of the Sanitation Department’s pipes and drums society performed, then stayed for the after-party, clad in kilts and with Budweisers in hand; fashion’s traveling flock turned out in its usual heels and sleek outfits; and workers from all levels of the city government came, in suits and evening dresses.

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Guests at the Preston show.CreditDrew Anthony Smith for The New York Times

“I’ve never met someone from the Sanitation Department. So here I am. These are my boys over here,” said Waris Ahluwalia, an actor and jewelry designer, pointing to a group of suited men. “It’s a really nice New York moment.”

It was also, perhaps, the beginning of the fulfillment of Mr. Preston’s dreams for the future, which range far beyond a salt shed in Soho. Reflecting on his next steps, he said he hoped to involve more designers in the 0x30 campaign, and to ask them to contribute surplus materials from their collection preparations.

He also dreams of extending his design purview to spacesuits and gear for NASA.

“I know I have a voice, and I know people are listening. And I know the D.S.N.Y. needs help, and I know NASA needs help,” Mr. Preston said, growing animated. “I have the plan, I have the ideas. I have a vision of seeing a whole army of people getting behind great causes. Now is the time.”